Blind Justice
by Foley Artist
Summary: Kim tries to help Ron come up with a suitable book report subject and, while trying to stop Drakken from stealing some high tech military weapons, Kim is blinded.
1. Default Chapter

Saturday morning in the Middleton Public Library was not Ron's idea of a fun time, especially when he was supposed to be looking for research material. He closed his eyes, spun around and extended his index finger. He opened his eyes and picked out whatever book he had chanced to point out. It was a great system and, for the most part, it gave him good results. He studied it then turned to Kim, who was looking the shelf over with great care, eyeing each title carefully.  
  
"Hey, Ron, have you seen anything on the Russian Revolution?" Kim asked.  
  
"Why would I look for anything about that?" asked Ron.  
  
"For our history paper."  
  
"Like I'm actually going to get a history book. Come on, KP, you should know me better than that."  
  
"I'm not going to carry you on this, Ron, I mean it this time. Besides, this isn't like the science fair we're working independently remember?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, we've been over this before..."  
  
Ron looked the shelf over once again, which he noticed, for the first time, didn't really conform to any one cateogry. There were non-fiction and fiction books assembled in no particular order. Something called Timeline caught his eye. Hadn't they made it into a movie or something? Chricton, Chricton.... the name rang a bell. For some reason he thought of dinosaurs.  
  
"Say, KP what'dya know about Michael Chricton?"  
  
"He writes a lot of sci-fi that revolves around science. You can learn something by reading his books.  
  
"Forget that then," said Ron, ramming the book into the first space he could find. He began to scan the shelf again, but the name Chricton kept coming up again. He looked back and took the book back off the shelf; he looked at it from several angles.  
  
"Think I could fake a book report by taking all the science stuff out of the book?" he asked.  
  
"This is a history report."  
  
"This is called Timeline it's got to have something about history in it."  
  
"But you have to think about how much of it was made up."  
  
"Hey, if I can take the basic idea out of it then I can fake the rest."  
  
"Are you sure it's a good idea to try to fake a paper with Barkin grading it?"  
  
"Eh, I'll be okay," Ron said. "I've gotten by before and I'll get by again. Besides, it's just a grade. Pass, fail, A, F, they don't matter."  
  
"An atychiphobe you're not," said Kim as she browsed some of the other titles. Ron watched her for a moment.  
  
"Hey, have you ever thought about books on tape? It probably cuts down on the reading time."  
  
"I don't think so. I happen to enjoy reading."  
  
"So do I... but I have higher standards. I read only classic literature."  
  
"And by 'classic' you mean The Dark Knight Returns?" said Kim sardonically.  
  
"And The Man Without Fear," Ron shot back. "You can't forget that."  
  
"Of course not."  
  
"But that's not the point."  
  
"What is the point?"

"I don't know yet, but as soon as I find out I'll let you know."  
  
"Ron Stoppable: scholar," said Kim with mock admiration.  
  
"I am what I is."  
  
"The trick is to find something you're interested in."  
  
Kim looked at the books in the shelf quickly and selected a thin tome from a high shelf.  
  
"How about McCarthy's witch-hunts?" asked Kim, offering Ron the book.  
  
"Witch-hunts?" asked Ron, very interested. "You mean like spells and magic?"  
  
"No, I mean like the communist scare in the 1950s."  
  
"But you said witchcraft!"  
  
"Witch-hunt, actually."  
  
"Hunt, craft, with words like that I expect them to involve sorcery!"  
  
"Okay," said Kim, replacing the book. Ron eyed the shelf quickly and selected another book at random. He peeked inside and knew instantly it would bore him. He slid the book back into place. Suddenly he had a thought.  
  
"Hey, how about an in-depth history of the Peanuts comic strip?"  
  
"Come on, Ron, be serious."  
  
"I am being serious. Do you know what Charlie Brown's been through over the years? There's been some pretty agonizing stuff."  
  
"Whatever," said Kim, walking down the aisle in search of something to do a history paper on. Ron followed.  
  
RON: Come on... block head deserves some respect!


	2. No Subject Matter

Shego stood behind Dr. Drakken as he toiled over a headlight at his "operating table" as he called it. He was adding something to it; what she didn't know, she never bothered to ask because he never told her. Not until he was ready, not until he got his big speech together. He loved his speech, his plans he thought were so brilliant; he hated when she pointed out logical errors or asked questions. Yeah, he really hated questions, especially while he was working. Q&A time.  
  
"So... your newest project, huh?" Shego inquired. "What is it this time?"  
  
"It's a combination robot/truck," said Drakken without looking up from his work. "I will drive into top-secret military bases in this truck, which can be cleverly disguised as transportation vehicles. I will sneak into the bases, blind all the personnel and sneak away with their technology."

Asinine as usually.

"Interesting," Shego said.  
  
"Then," Drakken continued, "I will use that technology to take over the world!" 

"Uh huh, and you don't think that the military will try to come after you for stealing their stuff?"  
  
"Oh, we'll be well hidden," Drakken boasted. "I have the most inconspicuous of hiding techniques devised."

Inconspicuous; that was a great key word.

"Inconspicuous, eh? What, you gonna hide in another giant cheese wheel?"  
  
"No, no, I assure you, it's brilliant." 

Brilliant; another great key word.  
  
"Yeah, I'm familiar with your 'brilliant' ideas," Shego said sarcastically.  
  
"Keep it up Shego and you'll be looking for a new job," Drakken said warningly.  
  
"Come off it," Shego laughed. "Remember what happened the last time I went away?"

Drakken skulked a little and weakly replied "Yes." Shego smiled.

"I thought so." 

Kim calmly reorganized her locker while other students ran past her, trying to escape school as quickly as possible. Kim preferred to take her time, wait for the halls to clear; Ron was leaning against the locker next to Kim's, scrutinizing a paper he had thrown together in the library.

"I think this is a pretty good topic," Ron said. "Here, KP, what do you think about it?" he added, handing Kim his term paper. Kim took it and studied it.  
  
"Don't you think it deserved an A?" Ron asked.

Kim could have shot back any number of comments, but she restrained herself.  
  
"Ron, this is a paper comparing Joseph Stalin to Barney the dinosaur," Kim said.  
  
"You don't see it either?"  
  
"See what?"  
  
"Think about it, those kids didn't do anything unless Barney gave the go-ahead. They were living in fear and oppression, just like the Russian people with Stalin!" Ron said triumphantly.  
  
"So of all the people in the world- all the dictators, all the villains, all the mass murderers- you chose Barney, a dinosaur who hosts a children's television program, as the modern day counterpart of Stalin, a mass murdering dictator?"  
  
"Yup, brilliant isn't it?"  
  
"So not," Kim replied simply. "Just what possessed you to write this?"  
  
"Well, you see, I was gonna tape this special on Stalinist Russia on the History Channel, but my VCR got messed up."  
  
"I see," said Kim, handing the paper back to Ron. "Do yourself a favor, read a book."  
  
"But television's so much easier. In the time it takes you to watch one TV special you've read, like, a fourth of a book."  
  
"Why not see it as having a fourth of the book done with?"  
  
"Because I could have watched one whole special," said Ron.  
  
"You're hopeless," sighed Kim.  
  
"Maybe, but I'll bet I get an "A" for originality."  
  
"More likely you'll get detention for irritating Barkin."  
  
"You really think I should re-think this as a paper?"  
  
"I don't think, I know," said Kim matter-of-factly.  
  
"Man," groaned Ron.  
  
"Come on, let's go to Bueno Nacho, I'll help you with a re-write. You really need it."  
  
"That's exactly what I was waiting for. Let's go," said Ron as they headed off down the hall.

At Bueno Nacho Kim nibbled on a nacho as she scratched one of several ideas off of the piece of paper lying in front of her.  
  
"Okay, so we'll scratch that idea," said Kim.  
  
"I'm telling you KP, I thought my last idea was a winner," protested Ron.  
  
"You mean the one about writing the essay on Nazi Germany using old Captain America comics?" Kim asked.  
  
"And some old X-Men comics," Ron added.

Kim had to stop him. If she didn't he would go on like this for hours.  
  
"Ron, Marvel comics is not a recognized history authority."  
  
"Hey, Magneto was in a concentration camp," Ron shot back.  
  
"He's a fictional character!"  
  
"I know that, you know that, but does Barkin know that? I don't think he reads comic books."  
  
"Hmmm. Ugh uh," replied Rufus, who was devouring the basket of nachos from inside the basket.

Kim glanced at the scratch paper, which was now more scratch than paper. Useless idea after useless idea crossed out. Kim watched the last nacho disappear. She sighed.  
  
"We're gonna need a bigger basket."

It was dusk at the Arthur Lubin military base and Herbie Smith was exhausted. He had been on guard duty for eleven hours; for eleven hours he had just stood there, doing nothing. He was due for a break in a short while, about a half hour; just had to hang in there for a little while longer. A large, unfamiliar-looking truck rolled to a stop at the entrance of the base. Well, here was something to do.  
  
"ID check required," the guard shouted at the truck. He got no reply.  
  
"Sir, please step out of your vehicle and present some identification!" he shouted again. Again he received no answer. He secretly smiled to himself; finally, some action. He reached for a radio embedded in a post standing next to him.  
  
"Fine!" he yelled as he turned on the radio. "We have a situation here. There's a truck- argh!"  
  
He dropped the microphone and fell to his knees, covering his eyes. The truck's headlight's shot an ultra-powerful beam. Herbie Smith crawled blindly off the road as the truck revved its engine and rammed the gate, sending wood and metal everywhere. Troops dashed out from every direction and advanced on the truck, but somehow got caught in its horrible headlights and they all fell to the ground. The truck screeched through the base until it came to a halt in front of a building labeled "Weapons Depot." The engine idled as the driver and passenger-side door burst open and Drakken and Shego leaped out.  
  
"Oh yes, this is going to be a blast," Drakken commented to himself.

Shego walked up to the depot's large steel doors and, with her hands flared, effortlessly slit open a sizeable entrance. She and Dr. Drakken stepped inside.

"No! No! No!" Kim moaned, cradling her head in her hands. Ron had been bouncing ideas off of her for about a half hour, and the table showed it. There were stacks of empty nacho boxes and crumpled up pieces of paper lying all over the table.

"What? It mates perfect sense!" Ron exclaimed. 

Kim shot him a glance.  
  
"Ron, Green Eggs and Ham was not an allusion to Stalinist Russia," she replied.  
  
"Come on, KP, think about it. Why are the eggs and ham green? It's because they're spoiled. The government had been hording it from the people for so long that, when they finally did get it out to them it was rancid. I Am Sam was clearly an agent, a public relations man. He was trying to convince the people to eat the food that was given to them, to be content."  
  
"Barkin will never buy it. Why don't you just give in and get a history book?"  
  
"I could... or I could wait 'til you're done with your book and have you help me."  
  
"Ron-" Kim started before she was interrupted by the familiar sound of her Kimmunicator going off. She jammed her hand into her pocket and took the small communicator out. She touched a button and Wade appeared.  
  
"What up, Wade?" Kim asked.  
  
"Major problem," Wade answered. "There's been a break-in at a major military base. All their weapons were lifted right off the base."  
  
"Sounds bad."  
  
"It is and guess who's behind it?"

Without missing a beat Kim answered.  
  
"Drakken?"  
  
"You've hit the jackpot. Not only do you get the car and the cash prize but, as an added bonus, you get his location."  
  
"Sweet, where to?"  
  
"They're leaving the military base, on a stretch of highway in the middle of the desert."  
  
"I'm there," said Kim, turning her Kimmunicator off. She looked back at Ron, who was deep in thought... deep for Ron that is.  
  
"Okay, how about this?" he said. "I prove that lemon squares helped to bring about the fall of the Aztec empire?"  
  
"I have an even better idea: why don't we take a break from paper planning and go stop a wacko bad guy?"  
  
"About time," said Ron.


End file.
